Sunday, September 25, 2005

Pronaco flags off conference with Buhari as special guest SUNDAY INDEPENDENT Saturday 25th September, 2005 HOME | Previous Page Pronaco flags off conference with Buhari as special guest   Chuks Ehirim Abuja     Former Head of State and presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the 2003 general election, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, has been nominated as the guest of honour, at the opening ceremony of the National Conference being put together by the Pa Anthony Enahoro-led Pro-National Conference Organization (PRONACO). Sunday Independent gathered from authoritative source in Abuja, that the leadership of PRONACO had contacted Gen. Buhari’s close associates, urging them to convince the former chairman of defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), to accept the invitation. The source said that in settling for Buhari as the guest of honour at the occasion which had been planned to coincide with Nigeria’s 45th independence anniversary on October 1, 2005, PRONACO leaders consider him as the number one opposition leader in Nigeria today. If he accepts the invitation, Buhari would deliver the keynote address at the occasion, which is being planned to attract dignitaries from all over the world. Though the final decision on the issue had not been taken, the Buhari Organisation, the political group that campaigned for the actualization of Buhari’s presidential ambition in 2003, is said to have met in Abuja, over it. Sunday Independent reliably gathered that majority of the members of the group were favourably disposed to Buhari attending the function. “Many of us are equally pleased to note that a highly reputable organization like PRONACO, has this high regard for our leader. We will ensure that he attends”, said a member of the group. At the occasion, Buhari, the source revealed, may likely make his position known on the state of the nation, especially on the parlous state of the nation’s economy as well as the prostrate nature of its polity, which has been bedeviled by serious intra party squabbles of late. Apart from PRONACO which has developed interest in him, Buhari is also assuming the position of the beautiful bride among different strata of the Nigerian political class. Last week when the Alliance for Democracy (AD) held its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at Agura Hotel, Abuja, Buhari’s name featured prominently. The party’s leadership is said to be toying with the idea of fielding the retired General as its presidential candidate for the 2007 election. To this effect, National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, has held two crucial meetings with Buhari, in recent times. The first of these meetings was held in London while a follow up meeting  took place in Lagos. The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), which is building what it calls ‚ “granite coalition”, is said to be thinking along the same direction too. Many of the party leaders in CNPP are said to be favourably disposed to Buhari as the figure to fly the flag of the opposition parties in the 2007 presidential election. Because of this interest the CNPP appears to be showing in Buhari, the presidency as well as some other political interests in the country, are said to have started showing interest with a view to destabilising the coalition. A source within the CNPP disclosed to Sunday Independent that during its meeting in Abuja last Tuesday, a group, suspected to be agents of the federal government, made proposals for re-organization of the coalition. The meeting was said to have lasted up to 3.30 am on Wednesday but could not reach consensus on some of the issues raised. Apart from the Presidency, loyalists of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, are also said to be angling for control of the CNPP. Copyright© 2004. All Rights Reserved. Independent Newspapers Limited Block5, Plot 7D, Wempco Road, Ogba, P.M.B. 21777, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. www.independentng.com e-mail: info@independentng.com Designed By INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS LIMITED Powered By DNet. 10:16:37 AM    comment []

Senate Questions Budget Figures By Presidency, Agencies Guardian Senate Questions Budget Figures By Presidency, Agencies FROM ALIFA DANIEL, ABUJA OUT of 10 countries surveyed by a Senate Committee last March, only Nigeria, in 2004, "indulges in budget cuts as a path to development," going by a report recently released to The Guardian. The report, which has been a closely guarded secret because a disagreement over budget execution between the Executive and Legislative Arms in April was resolved quietly, showed that while the country's revenue was $11.78 billion, its total expenditure estimate for that same year was $11.47 billion. The other countries, such as Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Venezuela, Senegal, Indonesia, India, Ghana, Egypt, and Cuba markedly overshot their budget.. For instance, out of its revenue of $18.01 billion in 2004, Cuba had an expenditure of $19.06 billion. Egypt had a revenue of $15.42 billion, but had an expenditure profile of $20.76. Ghana's revenue was $2.17, but its expenditure was $2.56 billion; India's revenue was $67.3 billion and its expenditure was nearly $40 billion higher at $104 billion. Indonesia's expenditure was $55.88 compared to a revenue profile of $52.13 billion in 2004. Pakistan's expenditure was $3.06 billion higher than its $13.45 billion revenue for the year while in Philippines, the expenditure was $3.62 billion higher than the revenue profile of $12.22 billion. In South Africa, the margin of increase was a little substantial with the expenditure profile at $52.54 billion compared with the revenue for the same 2004 at $47.43 billion. In Venezuela, the revenue was $26.91 billion, while expenditure was $30.7 billion. Even Senegal, with the lowest figures among the polled countries, had an increased expenditure profile of $1.627 billion compared to the revenue figures of $1.572 billion. The Senate ad hoc committee was set up in reaction to comments by President Olusegun Obasanjo in March on the increase in the 2005 budget of the National Assembly, and delay in the release of the first quarter allocation of the legislative arm. In an apparent move to prove that the national assembly was more frugal than the executive Arm, the Senate Committee reeled out figures to show that Presidential Tours in 2004 gulped N1,343,278,718, while in the 2005 appropriation, it rose by 261 per cent to N2,896,670,427. The maintenance of the sprawling presidential estate rose by 234 per cent from N1,730,403,540 in 2004 to N4,044,675,170 in 2005. Hospitality and entertainment in the Presidency rose 257 per cent, from N750,803,667 in 2004, to N1,929,939,862 in 2005. The Presidential Air Fleet rose by the same percentage to N2,368,989,862 in 2004 from N1,494,256,412 in 2005. In the Ministry of Finance, the Senate report showed that, in 2004, N49,990,487 was spent on international travel and transport while in 2005, it was N129,198,244. In 2004, the overheads in the Budget Office of the federation was N140,552,195, but in 2005, an increase of 250 per cent. In the same office, travel and transport rose by 330 per cent, from N21,227,250 in 2004 to N70,149,032. Perhaps the most damning observation by the Senate Committee was the double allocation made to the Extractive Industry Transparency International (EITI), which got N250 million under the Presidency and N500 million in the Ministry of Finance in 2005. Comparing increases in overhead costs, the report showed that between 2004 and 2005, the Presidency's budget rose by 450 per cent from N9,553,674,231 to N43,013,242,494; Senate and House of Representatives by 153 per cent from N28,135,866,187 to N43,172,383,440; and Ministry of Finance rose by N1,113,750,000 in 2004 to N3,165,217,385, an increase of 284 per cent. Other agencies that enjoyed remarkable increase in their budget figures were the Foreign Affairs Ministry, with a 137 per cent jump from the 2004 overhead budget figures of N1,198,132,927 to N1,638,724,182; and the Ministry of Agriculture with a 685 per cent hike from N112,500,000 in 2004 to N770,228,124.       BUSINESS SERVICES Property Appointments Money Watch Market Report Capital Market Business Travels Maritime Watch Industry Watch Energy Report Insurance Compulife © 2003 - 2005 @ Guardian Newspapers Limited (All Rights Reserved).  Powered by dnetsystems.net dnet® 9:52:25 AM    comment []